theadolite
01-03-2007, 05:38 PM
I don't know where to post this... it's not really malpractice... at least, not in US law, as far as I know.
:confused:
But... this just ain't right.
I need a surgery. A full hysterectomy, if you must know the particulars. I have a huge abdominal mass... every doctor I've talked to so far has a different theory name for it. Maybe a cystaden, maybe cystadenoma, and the rest of the jargon ... well ... you know that feel when you know your eyes are glazing over?
The first consensus is that it needs to come out.
The second consensus is that they won't know what it is until it comes out and biopsies and other tests are conducted.
It all translates to a big darned lump.
O.k. that part's simple (?) enough.
The complications come from my being a statistic that seems to confuse folks that should have some idea of what I can do about it.
See, I'm a contractor.
I am contracting in another state from my home state.
I am married, and my husband is back home, helping my mother out... in Southeastern Missouri (a very, very economically depressed area), my Mom not seeing well enough to drive is a handicap. I send some of my paycheck back home to support my husband and help my Mom (she was a stay at home Mom, as was most of her generation, until I was in my teens... her SS check is pretty modest.).
While health insurance is available through the agency I work with, it's not much of a deal. If I bought that insurance, I would not be able to send money home... and that's the whole point of this contracting stuff. I'd really rather be home with my family, but income is necessary.
So, like a pretty sizeable chunk of the population... especially contractors like me... I've been running without insurance. Being fairly healthy the last 30 years, I've done alright... until now. (Actually, until now, doctors had been pretty much a waste of time and the source of a lot of frustration. I'm tall, strong looking, and healthy looking. So If I've gone in with a complaint, I've generally been treated like a hypocondriac. Doesn't matter is only 1 in 1000 of the gals my size doesn't have scoliosis and other joint problems, for instance...)
Which... comes down to the crux of the problem.
Without insurance, the hospital(s) want the money up front for the surgery. If not all of it, the cost is so horrendous that even a 50% up front payment is out of the question! I can't come up with it!
Bank loan? Yeah, right! Southeastern Missouri did awful things to my credit. (There's this myth about a lower cost of living down there. That's why a lot of mid-westerners retire down there. For wage earners, however, forget it! If you can't earn enough to support that lower cost of living, It don't mean diddly! Oh, yeah, and if you have any sort of experience and education, you get the "you're over qualified" baloney... sorry, another issue... more social than legal even.) Add in an extended recovery period, which in and of itself would be ruinous without the cost of hospitalization, I doubt any bank would loan me a penny for this operation. (Did I mention being a contractor? I only get paid for the hours I work, in otherwords, and surgery and recovery is not called work...)
Contracting does pay a good wage. In no way to I qualify as low income. I've been doing this for a couple years, so even averaging wouldn't count me as "low income".
No kids (even if I had had any, they'd be of majority age).
I'm not a drug addict or alchoholic.
I don't have a record, other than a couple parking tickets back in the early 90's at the latest.
I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, supporting my family, earning my paycheck, keeping my nose clean, and I guess there isn't any hope for folks like me.
I've exhausted all the ways to get help to afford this surgery that I've found (and I've been spending long hours looking for these last several months, believe me!), they're all just more cracks.
Kinda makes a person feel like a pariah. Boy, the doctors sure acted that way when they found out I wasn't insured! The business end of hospitals do not take the hyppocratic oath, and they've been almost hostile in attitude (all puns intended).
Oh. So called "charity" hospitals cost more than some of the fancy dan hospitals, that's what I've found.
So unless I win the lottery, it looks like this opperation just ain't gonna happen. I'm looking at my final arangements anyway, as I have some strange reactions to drugs, and surgery is a big risk no matter what... but it looks like that's the only thing that will get done!
:mad:
It really stinks down here in this crack... I have people that are counting on me being around for a few years yet, and I don't want to disappoint them.
Uhm. Any advice? My eyes are spinning and I'm out of ideas... :eek:
:confused:
But... this just ain't right.
I need a surgery. A full hysterectomy, if you must know the particulars. I have a huge abdominal mass... every doctor I've talked to so far has a different theory name for it. Maybe a cystaden, maybe cystadenoma, and the rest of the jargon ... well ... you know that feel when you know your eyes are glazing over?
The first consensus is that it needs to come out.
The second consensus is that they won't know what it is until it comes out and biopsies and other tests are conducted.
It all translates to a big darned lump.
O.k. that part's simple (?) enough.
The complications come from my being a statistic that seems to confuse folks that should have some idea of what I can do about it.
See, I'm a contractor.
I am contracting in another state from my home state.
I am married, and my husband is back home, helping my mother out... in Southeastern Missouri (a very, very economically depressed area), my Mom not seeing well enough to drive is a handicap. I send some of my paycheck back home to support my husband and help my Mom (she was a stay at home Mom, as was most of her generation, until I was in my teens... her SS check is pretty modest.).
While health insurance is available through the agency I work with, it's not much of a deal. If I bought that insurance, I would not be able to send money home... and that's the whole point of this contracting stuff. I'd really rather be home with my family, but income is necessary.
So, like a pretty sizeable chunk of the population... especially contractors like me... I've been running without insurance. Being fairly healthy the last 30 years, I've done alright... until now. (Actually, until now, doctors had been pretty much a waste of time and the source of a lot of frustration. I'm tall, strong looking, and healthy looking. So If I've gone in with a complaint, I've generally been treated like a hypocondriac. Doesn't matter is only 1 in 1000 of the gals my size doesn't have scoliosis and other joint problems, for instance...)
Which... comes down to the crux of the problem.
Without insurance, the hospital(s) want the money up front for the surgery. If not all of it, the cost is so horrendous that even a 50% up front payment is out of the question! I can't come up with it!
Bank loan? Yeah, right! Southeastern Missouri did awful things to my credit. (There's this myth about a lower cost of living down there. That's why a lot of mid-westerners retire down there. For wage earners, however, forget it! If you can't earn enough to support that lower cost of living, It don't mean diddly! Oh, yeah, and if you have any sort of experience and education, you get the "you're over qualified" baloney... sorry, another issue... more social than legal even.) Add in an extended recovery period, which in and of itself would be ruinous without the cost of hospitalization, I doubt any bank would loan me a penny for this operation. (Did I mention being a contractor? I only get paid for the hours I work, in otherwords, and surgery and recovery is not called work...)
Contracting does pay a good wage. In no way to I qualify as low income. I've been doing this for a couple years, so even averaging wouldn't count me as "low income".
No kids (even if I had had any, they'd be of majority age).
I'm not a drug addict or alchoholic.
I don't have a record, other than a couple parking tickets back in the early 90's at the latest.
I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, supporting my family, earning my paycheck, keeping my nose clean, and I guess there isn't any hope for folks like me.
I've exhausted all the ways to get help to afford this surgery that I've found (and I've been spending long hours looking for these last several months, believe me!), they're all just more cracks.
Kinda makes a person feel like a pariah. Boy, the doctors sure acted that way when they found out I wasn't insured! The business end of hospitals do not take the hyppocratic oath, and they've been almost hostile in attitude (all puns intended).
Oh. So called "charity" hospitals cost more than some of the fancy dan hospitals, that's what I've found.
So unless I win the lottery, it looks like this opperation just ain't gonna happen. I'm looking at my final arangements anyway, as I have some strange reactions to drugs, and surgery is a big risk no matter what... but it looks like that's the only thing that will get done!
:mad:
It really stinks down here in this crack... I have people that are counting on me being around for a few years yet, and I don't want to disappoint them.
Uhm. Any advice? My eyes are spinning and I'm out of ideas... :eek:
